Money should be used to boost education, fix roads and repair budget holes

Friday

Mar 30, 2012 at 12:01 AMMar 30, 2012 at 10:19 AM

I don't live in Westerville, but the last results I saw before going to bed on March 6 had their school levy going down to narrow defeat. I woke up to a Dispatch photo of 14-year-old middle school student president Phoebe Alicardi, whose prayers were answered - the levy passed.

I don’t live in Westerville, but the last results I saw before going to bed on March 6 had their school levy going down to narrow defeat. I woke up to a Dispatch photo of 14-year-old middle school student president Phoebe Alicardi, whose prayers were answered — the levy passed. Of the $18.5 million in expected cuts, now at least $8?m illion will be there to help students struggling to read, keep sports and band and maintain foreign-language options. But, there are still big cuts to come, even with the levy’s passage — two of the district’s magnet schools are closing and busing services likely will decrease.

Great public-education opportunities — along with safe streets, sound bridges, clean parks, open libraries and other public services — make a great Ohio. The biennial budget approved last year had nearly $2 billion in cuts to K-12 education, $1 billion sliced from local governments, $500 million slashed from higher education instruction and other damaging reductions.

But it appears that Gov. John Kasich is taking this deep-cut budget as the new normal as he proposes a plan to raise taxes on oil-and-gas drilling and swap the revenue for income-tax cuts. Rather, we should be doing everything we can to build up the opportunities for young people, seniors and everyone in between, so that students in places like Westerville aren’t suffering even after their communities pass hard-fought levies.

While Florida’s Republican governor has recognized that his state needs to put a billion dollars back into K-12 education after its own massive cuts, our governor is acting like we don’t desperately need the revenue to achieve even a minimum standard of quality in our communities.

Kasich should be applauded for recognizing that an oil-and-gas boom will impose costs on eastern Ohio and proposing to raise taxes on drilling. But if the drilling is going to grow substantially, we should make sure Ohio is collecting a tax that is at least comparable to major energy-producing states. Kasich’s proposal is too small. Its use also is misdirected. Any new revenues should cover new costs like road maintenance and environmental protection, restore services, and help make needed investments in Ohio’s future.

As a whole, our revenue system in Ohio is regressive — by share of income, the poorest 20 percent on average pay nearly double what the richest 1 percent pay. The income tax is our only major progressive tax — one where the rich pay a greater share of their income than the poor. Therefore, reducing the income tax further shifts the load onto working- and middle-class Ohioans, making our system even less fair than it is now. Not to mention the fact that we’ve cut our income taxes by 21 percent in Ohio over the past 7 years, only to see Ohio slip backward on many national indicators of prosperity.

What we really need is more revenue to pay for crucial services and fill the gaping holes that have left a projected quarter of Ohio’s schools in fiscal distress and students like Phoebe crossing their fingers. Local governments, too, are struggling to keep basic services intact. Families should not have to pray for safe streets, timely response from fire departments and emergency medical squads and filled potholes.

There is a better way. All Ohioans can have access to the programs and services that lead to the quality of life they have come to expect and deserve. Big corporations and the richest Ohioans, who have benefited especially from recent tax cuts, will need to pay their fair share. We should review and reduce wasteful tax breaks like the limit on sales tax for time shares in luxury jet aircraft. Amazon will need to collect taxes just like local mom-and-pop retailers. But prosperity can be had for all.

Gavin Devore Leonard is the state director for One Ohio Now, a broad coalition of health and human-service organizations, labor unions, advocacy group and more that seeks a balanced approach to balancing the budget.